


Two Roads Diverged

by Maeve_of_Winter



Series: More Money, More Problems [3]
Category: The Trixie Belden Mysteries - Julie Campbell Tatham & Kathryn Kenny
Genre: Boarding School, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Robert Frost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-02
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-21 14:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1554215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_of_Winter/pseuds/Maeve_of_Winter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Avery recounts the beginning of the friendship between himself and Taz.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Roads Diverged

**Author's Note:**

> I welcome constructive criticism on all of my works. If you want to leave a comment, that's perfectly fine, but if you'd prefer to send a message, my email is goldphoenixrising@yahoo.com.

Avery first truly speaks with Taz when they're in the seventh grade. It's the transitional year for most of their type, when the children have graduated from private primary academies, and their parents send them off to elite boarding schools. During his childhood, Avery alternated between an official school and private tutors-- he spent a few weeks in the classroom, but the next few with his parents in Thailand, Spain, or Sweden.

He and Taz wind up at Welton Academy. They both vaguely know each other; their parents are old friends, connected through the mutual friendship of Matthew Wheeler, Taz's namesake. However, Taz's quiet demeanor has prevented them from forming much of a camaraderie. They're roommates, but it's not until they both join the soccer team that their lifelong bond is sealed.

Not to brag, but the two of them are damn fine soccer players- that's why they make the JV team the first day of tryouts as seventh-graders. Avery's talent stems from his ability to predict the movements of the players, while Taz is just flat out fast. The kid's practically a blur when he runs, a speeding bullet-- one teammate remarks it's like the Tasmanian Devil from _Looney Tunes_ , and thus, his nickname is born. Only the teachers call him “Matthew” anymore.

Taz's father manages to show for one of their early games-- he's already in the area for business, and decides it would be worth his time to drop by. Every athlete has an off-day, though, and such is the occasion for Taz. He tries his hardest, Avery can tell just by looking at him, but it simply isn't enough.

Taz's father notices as well, his cold eyes likely narrowed behind his five-hundred-dollar sunglasses. As the players depart from the field at the game's conclusion, Damien Devlin stalks over and grabs Taz. Grasping his son by the upper arm, his mouth turns downward as he begins hissing into his ear. Avery can't hear what's being said, but Taz is averting his face and attempting to twist as far away from his father as possible.

Avery waits for Taz in the locker room, long after their teammates have finished and filed out. Taz takes forever in the shower, remaining there for such a long time that Avery goes to check on him.

Taz is fully dressed in his soccer gear, slumped against the wall beneath the shower, his usually spiky platinum blond hair plastered to his head by the steady spray. The hot water tap is twisted as far as it can go, but judging from the way Taz is shivering, there's no warm water left.

Uncertain of what to say, Avery allows silence to reign for a few minutes. However, since the likelihood of Taz starting a conversation is null, Avery decides to go ahead. Since “Are you okay?” seems like a fairly trite question at this point, he instead tries to broach the topic of Damien.

“I saw what happened with your dad,” he says. “He was out of line.”

Taz closes his eyes momentarily. “He usually is,” he replies. “He's been a mess since my mother filed for divorce this past summer.”

There's a pause. Taz doesn't seem willing to volunteer anymore information.

“I heard about that,” Avery says cautiously. “It sounded rough.”

Taz scoffs. “I'm amazed she put up with him for as long as she did. She never loved him- she married him because she knew he could provide for her. I think she must have left him for another guy, because I can't imagine her striking out on her own.”

Taz appears to be about to say more, but a coughing fit wracks his thin frame. Avery starts and moves towards him, but Taz holds up a hand.

“My mother and your mother are completely different people. Yours is business-minded, constantly jetting off to Germany to make a deal or setting up meetings with investors. My mother wasn't anything like yours. She was really fragile, in that aristocratic sort of way. Dozens of disorders, always on some pill for something or another.”

A long silence stretches between them. Avery doesn't know if he should offer a reassurance or let Taz keep talking.

“I think my father's worst fear is that I'll turn out to be like her,” Taz says hoarsely. “That I won't be able to stand on my own, that I'll only be able to get out of bed in the morning because of medication. I'm not close to either of my parents, so I don't even really notice that she's gone.

“But my dad-- he's always been so distant, so cold. Whenever I spend anytime with him, he seems so perplexed and annoyed, like he doesn't know why I'm there." Breath heaves from Taz's lungs. He doesn't continue.

Avery takes a few steps forward, as if he's approaching a wild animal. “I . . . have issues with my parents, too, every once in a while,” he admits. “Sometimes it seems like they have these ridiculous expectations. Like, I can't be a person with flaws around them . . . I have to be the perfect person for them to accept me. I can't be mostly good with some bad, or vice versa. With them, they see me as either completely good or completely bad. There's no in-between.” 

Avery flounders. He barely understands what he's even saying. “When I spend time with them, and they bring me to parties and dinners . . . I almost feel like some sort of show dog performing for them. 'Look at our perfect child, look at how talented he is.' Like I'm a circus attraction--” He breaks off abruptly. “So . . . don't worry that you're alone in this,” he concludes lamely.

Minutes drag by with neither of them speaking. Avery doesn't know what he should be doing, so he stays in place.

Minutes drag by with neither of them speaking. Avery doesn't know what he should be doing, so he stays in place.

Taz inhales deeply, and leans his head back against the wall. “My dad fought to keep me in the divorce settlement. Got a good lawyer, and wouldn't even allow my mother visitation. I like to think that means something, but--” his voice catches. “I'm not sure what. Maybe he actually likes me, or maybe I'm just some collectible he can own. It's a gamble.” Taz shakes his head. "I'm not sure why he even came here today. Most of the time he seems completely uninterested in me.”

Avery absorbs what Taz has told him, and at that moment, reaches a decision.

Kneeling down to meet Taz's eyes, Avery looks at him steadily. “Forget about your father,” he says quietly.

Taz jerks back from Avery.

“What did he say to you after the game?” Avery asks. “Did he ask how you were doing? Did he tell you that he was proud of you no matter how you played?”

Taz stares at the floor.

“Or did he snarl at you for embarrassing him? For not being able to be the best all of the time, for making him waste an afternoon of watching you play?” Avery stares at Taz intently.

Taz does not respond.

“You don't have to let him have that control over you, you know.” Avery watches the other boy shiver beneath the frigid water. “He's not worth worrying over. He's not worth your fears or tears.” He leans in closer to Taz. “He doesn't deserve you.”

Maybe a dozen heartbeats pass in silence. Avery bids his time, waiting for the message to sink in.

He stands, extending a hand to Taz, who accepts wordlessly. Avery pulls him up and out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his shoulders to cease his shivering.

They don't speak of the matter again, nor do they speak to each other at all for the rest of the day. A silences pervades between them, but when Avery turns off the lamp to sleep later that night, their conversation is all he can think of.

* * *

The next week, when they have to select biology partners, Avery instantly chooses Taz. They're assigned to assemble a leaf collection of twenty leaves, with accompanying diagrams and scientific classifications.

There's a forest on the edge of campus that's maybe four square miles, used as a track for cross country races and as a practice area for the rest of the teams. At Taz's suggestion, the two of them hike out there to procure the necessary leaves.

“Did you know,” Avery asks Taz, as they venture forth into the woods, “that the Tasmanian Devil almost got axed from the _Looney Tunes_ cast?”

Taz glances up at him. “Actually, no, I didn't.”

Avery nods. “After the Devil's first appearance, this producer guy, Selzert, gave orders to send the character into limbo, because he was worried the Devil was too violent to be in cartoons for children. But then Jack Warner, the studio head, rolled up and told him to bring the Devil back, stat. You know why?”

“You know I don't,” Taz says, but he has a smile on his face.

“Turns out, Warner received dozens of letters from fans. They liked this 'Taz-Boy,' and wanted to see more cartoons with him.” Avery smiles back at Taz.

For several moments, they assemble specimens to use in their project.

“You know, I think I'd like to be in the botany club when we get to the high school,” Taz remarks. “I think this plant stuff is pretty cool.”

“It's a sham that they don't let the middle school students have any interesting clubs like the high school's,” Avery declares, referring to a school policy intended to encourage the middle school students to focus solely on academics and athletics. “When I get to high school, I'm going to be on the student council, join and preside over every club I damn well please, and found a few of my own just for the hell of it. I want to leave a legacy here at Welton.”

Taz laughs. “Oh, Avery, you're so terrible. You just want everything.”

Avery scoffs. “Yeah? What's wrong with that?”

Shrugging, Taz grabs a few leaves from a low-hanging branch. “People who are really ambitious make others feel threatened. They think ambition is close to greed. So-- ” he twirls a wide maple leaf in Avery's direction- “You might want to keep your blond ambition in check.”

“I don't care if people don't like me, Taz,” Avery tells him. “That's the difference between you and I.”

His statement brings Taz to momentarily freeze, but then Taz simply shrugs it off. He returns to putting his history textbook to good use by inserting leaves to press between the pages.

Avery watches him for a moment, and then returns to marking down the trees from which they've collected samples.

“As far as I'm concerned, people can say what they like,” Avery goes on. “It's to my credit if people call me ambitious. And if I'm called 'greedy,' well, 'Avarice' and 'Avery' already sound a lot alike. If someone calls me one instead of the other, I probably won't notice the difference.”

Avery waits for Taz's reply. When several moments go by without any sort of reaction, Avery turns to glance at him. However, he finds himself totally alone in the forest, with no sign of Taz.

Avery huffs. Well, if Taz is going to up and ditch him, Avery isn't going to keep working on the project by himself.

He turns to leave, but finds himself flummoxed about which direction to take. Mere feet away is a spider's web of intersecting trails, and Avery is hopeless concerning anything related to nature.

Indecision brings him to hesitate, but as he struggles to make a choice, Taz drops down from a nearby tree. Avery starts, then scowls at him.

Taz turns so that he's walking backwards, and he grins at Avery. “'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,'” he quoted. “And I chose the one where I could walk alongside you.”

Avery can't help it-- a slow smile creeps across his face, and he looks steadily at Taz, holding his gaze.

“I'll be glad to walk with you, Taz-Boy,” Avery says.

“Right back at you, Avarice,” Taz returns, quirking an eyebrow.

They walk back to the dorms together. Taz knows the way, and Avery is content to let him lead.

From that day forward, Taz and Avery are both inseparable and invincible. They are far from each other's only friend, but they are each other's strongest.

Taz and Avery room together for seventh grade, and then again for eighth, both of which pass in a blur of sun, rain, and snow. Massachusetts winters are long, fierce, and brutally cold-- but they get through it together.

Though they sign up to share a room together for a third time for their ninth grade year, it doesn't make much of a difference. They aren't at Welton for a month before he and Taz end up torching some shack. It's the result of a series of poor decisions on Avery's behalf, and for a short time, he thinks he's created an irreversible mistake. He nearly loses Taz, and Taz is already losing himself.

Yet when they're dismissed from Welton, another opportunity arises in the form of a town called Sleepyside, where both of their families own property. As a punishment, Avery's parents decided to send him to the public high school there, and it takes little convincing for Taz's father to do the same.

It will be good for them to get away for a while. During this time, Avery can reprioritize, and Taz can recover. The two of them both win this way, but more importantly, this way, the two of them remain.

And so Avery and Taz take their leave from Welton, leaving a trail of fire and destruction in their wake. Though perhaps not the legacy Avery wanted to establish, at least it's something for him to be remembered by.

The phoenix rises from the ashes, and what Avery thought might be the end of the two of them, he and Taz, turns out to be a new beginning. A fresh setting where a place has already been carved for both Taz and himself, where the two of them have more of a chance.

They walk away from Welton willingly, onward into a future that now blazes brighter than ever before.


End file.
